Ready Room # 53

[Jen]

Here is my take:

Pros:

- I enjoyed the flow of the story. It sounded great. I wouldn't even mind the removal of the transition chimes between readings.

Cons:

- While I  do like the readings, I like the discussion of the story more. I like to get the take of the hosts on things that are going on and a different insight to the story progression. If I had a choice I would go for more host comments, theories of the direction, and character analysis than the readings. To me, the readings are a great way to share the story, but I like the cast better when it was more a review of the week before, the story as it is, and speculation on the future. It feels more like a podcast about the story.

If I had to put all of that into a better term, I would say that I like it better when you "review" the story and highlight interesting "clips". Providing the whole story doesn't give people much motive to get on the boards and read it for themselves. I think if they have to come in to get the whole story, we might get some that want to stick around and join in the writing.

Does that make any sense? I hope it didn't sound negative because I like the current format, I just prefer something more interactive and review like format.

Thanks for the in put Chris. I agree that reviews are interesting, but we can't do both reviews and readings on the shows as we have limited time....especially since the RPG is in the "success category". We have more writers than ever before, posting more often.  Reviews will probably be withheld until the middle or end of the season; we will be doing a review episode this Saturday. But while those insights are of interest to writers, I don't think it's as intriguing to non-writers. They want the story...that's the entertainment value of the Ready Room speaking. Also, having quite a few posts under your belt for a season, helps give us hosts perspective...that's REALLY hard to come up with unless we've read most of the story arcs.

Just as an aside, I've had a MUCH easier time recruiting for the Boldly audio drama, based on this RPG, after the Ready Room has done these types of dramatic episodes. Recruiting actors before was like pulling teeth. Now people are very interested in playing part, and not just writers, people who are listening to the show want to participate in some way. The readings have helped spur interest.

[billybob476]

I was thinking of this today. When there are a lot of readings why not start alternating? Do one week of pure readings and then one week of 45 mins to an hour of readings and then 30 mins of discussion?

[Geekyfanboy]

I was thinking of this today. When there are a lot of readings why not start alternating? Do one week of pure readings and then one week of 45 mins to an hour of readings and then 30 mins of discussion?

I love that idea.. will discuss it with Jen and Rick

[dinghead]

I think Jen has a good point. I like the feedback cause I'm still trying to find my footing, as it were. But I can see where it would be sort of boring to someone who just wants to know what's coming next. (BTW Jen, next time you need a voice, just holler ^_^)

Really loved the flow of this episode, especially when it came to the poisoning incident. It wasn't that the written by and read by credits took me out of the story in previous episodes, it was just that they seemed more, I dunno, bite size?  It made for an extra pause in the narrative.

Lastly...I should write less funny and more serious. I think I gave Mr. Moyer the giggles during recording  :angel:

[moyer777]

you did.  :)  But I liked it!

[Geekyfanboy]

Well the Ready Room started out as a companion to the RPG game. It's where we did interviews with writers, talked about ideas we had for upcoming seasons, we talked about how to write in the RPG and we talked about previous post and how the story was going. This was never intended to be for the wide audience of Treks in Sci Fi.

We never read posts in the beginning. Then we read a few and folks seem to like it and the more we read the more we lost all the other elements to the original RR. I'm not saying the old Ready Room is better but it's different then the current incarnation of The Ready Room.

This microcast was created for those who participated and wrote in the RPG and not for general audience which it has turned into.

I like the idea of maybe doing an "older" version with Interviews/ RPG Protocol/ and us discussing the current story every other week and then doing a strictly post reading one every other week.

But as I have said this is something I need to discuss with Jen and Rick this weekend while we record our next RR. Thanks for your input everyone.

[Jen]

Well, when I proposed the Ready Room  my goal was to  update writers we already had and recruit new ones.  I think the readings have done a fine job of recruiting... entertainment value is great for marketing.  Personally, I like this version much better than the old. I miss the in-depth commentary on posts but love hearing them read dramatically—it brings a whole other level to this RPG. It makes our RPG unique. There are NONE currently that are doing this.  I'm not opposed to alternating commentary and readings in the episodes but, again, the success of our project has created posts. You think we're behind in readings now... ;) 


Eventually  the Ready Room may need to be in it's own feed so that microcasts can be added to cater to the writers' need for commentary and allow the regular episodes to entertain the listeners (and me) with readings. :) 

[Meds]

Just finished listening and i loved this new version. I think it helps the story flow, we dont need the written by and read by as i think we all know who does what. he story flowed better and (even though i read the posts and write them) the story felt more structured. I guess its like watching your favourite tv show and having adverts thrown in. What i suggest is maybe if we have a busy post week then its readings, if we have a quiet week then chat about the rpg etc. Either way i'm loving this new flow.

[billybob476]

I agree with Meds, I don't really think the "written by / read by" is really needed. Maybe just a "closing credits" at the end of the show listing the writers/readers or a listing in the show notes (and by show notes I mean the forum post for the episode).

My original idea with regard to the alternating shows was not to cut the readings completely from the discussion shows, but just to be sure there was a bit of commentary (as i said maybe about 30 mins) every second week.

So if your theoretical maximum runtime for each show is 1.5 hours you'd have:

week 1: 1.5 hours of readings
week 2: 1 hour of readings, 30 mins of chat
week 3: 1.5 hours of readings
week 4: 1 hour of readings, 30 mins of chat

and so on.

With all the new writers I have a feeling we may not have as many 'lulls' where there are very few posts like in past seasons. The readings are amazing and I definitely don't want them to stop, I really feel like the RR really took off when they started. But I don't want to lose the fun dynamic Kenny Jen and Rick bring to the show either.

Another option is have the mid-week show be all readings and release a shorter 30-45 minute show of discussion on some other day. The only thing with that is I hesitate making a suggestion that will give you guys MORE work.

[Feathers]

Having listened this week, I'm in favour of dropping the intros to the individual readings. I hadn't realised quite how distracting I found them. (I spend too much time listening for my name and not anough taking in the story ;))

I quite like the 'end credits' idea too and I agree with billybob that losing the commentary completely would be a real shame. Even before I started writing, I got a lot of enjoyment from the story discussions etc.

What's it feel ike to be a victim of your own success? :D

[Meds]

Oh yeah i love Jen, kenny and Ricks chats, they always put a huge smile on my face.

[Jen]

I agree with Meds, I don't really think the "written by / read by" is really needed. Maybe just a "closing credits" at the end of the show listing the writers/readers or a listing in the show notes (and by show notes I mean the forum post for the episode).

My original idea with regard to the alternating shows was not to cut the readings completely from the discussion shows, but just to be sure there was a bit of commentary (as i said maybe about 30 mins) every second week.

So if your theoretical maximum runtime for each show is 1.5 hours you'd have:

week 1: 1.5 hours of readings
week 2: 1 hour of readings, 30 mins of chat
week 3: 1.5 hours of readings
week 4: 1 hour of readings, 30 mins of chat

and so on.

With all the new writers I have a feeling we may not have as many 'lulls' where there are very few posts like in past seasons. The readings are amazing and I definitely don't want them to stop, I really feel like the RR really took off when they started. But I don't want to lose the fun dynamic Kenny Jen and Rick bring to the show either.

Another option is have the mid-week show be all readings and release a shorter 30-45 minute show of discussion on some other day. The only thing with that is I hesitate making a suggestion that will give you guys MORE work.

That's a good idea and I would be willing to do that (one week all readings one week some readings and some commentary). :)  But, adding another  Ready Room episode every week, no matter the length, is adding files to the Treks In Sci-Fi server. So, when I said that one day the Ready Room may have to have it's own feed, it was because of the amount of space we take up is space that Treks In Sci-Fi should live in. :)

Oh, and we did have commentary after every show (final thoughts, RPG protocol)  until the last few episodes...we have to have a break sometimes so we piled on the readings to catch up. :)

You know what would be nice, is if more people sent in their own thoughts about the direction of the story, and we could then comment on the listener/writer's point of view...it would help spark conversation. Audio files or emails would be great. :)

[Rico]

I have mixed feelings about splitting the feed.  Most listeners I think enjoy the Ready Rooms and get them from the normal feed.  We may lose people if I split things up.  As far as the readings vs. the commentary thing it's really up to all of you.  But for now, I would like to stick to one Ready Room per week.  Up to those doing the shows how to use that time best.

[Jen]

I have mixed feelings about splitting the feed.  Most listeners I think enjoy the Ready Rooms and get them from the normal feed.  We may lose people if I split things up.  As far as the readings vs. the commentary thing it's really up to all of you.  But for now, I would like to stick to one Ready Room per week.  Up to those doing the shows how to use that time best.

As long as you're okay with us using your podcast bandwidth, I don't see a reason to split the feed... I don't want to be a mooch. I'm afraid that the size of the Ready Room will continue to grow as we continue to gain writers and posts. Maybe we can discuss another episode during the week or longer episodes when it comes to that point in the future.  :)